Detailed Information on Public Service Events*:

Date/Time

Event

Location

Contact and Additional Details

* Events marked with an asterisk are run by organizations other than Cook County ARES and are advertised here as a service to the event organizers and to ARES members interested in public service activities. Information is believed accurate, but you should contact event organizers directly to learn of any changes and to let them know you are available to assist.

Invitation to Join ARES

To All Radio Amateurs:

The Amateur Radio Emergency Service (ARES) is a voluntary organization of licensed amateurs who have registered their capabilities and equipment for providing emergency communications as a public service to the community. The purpose of the ARES is to furnish communications in the event of natural disaster, when regular communications fail or are inadequate. Sponsored by ARRL®, the ARES functions at the local level to meet local communications needs.

The ARES has a long history of public service going back to its formal inception in 1935. Since that time, the ARES has responded countless times to communications emergencies.

Experience has proven that radio amateurs respond more capably in time of emergency when practice has been conducted in an organized group. There is no substitute for experience gained before the need arises.

The ARES in each locality operates under the direction of the Emergency Coordinator (EC), whose function is to direct the activities of the ARES to maintain a state of readiness.

To register in the ARES, send the detachable registration form above directly to your EC, or to ARRL Headquarters for forwarding to your EC.
League membership is not required for registration. Registration does not require the possession of any specially designed equipment. All amateurs can be of assistance to the ARES. There is provision in the ARES for every amateur regardless of class of license, equipment owned, or personal circumstances.

Won't you join us in providing this essential Amateur Radio service?

Richard Palm, K1CE
Field Services Manager

ARES Registration Forms

To register in ARES, please print, complete, and mail one of the forms
below. Residents of Illinois should use one of the addresses listed
on the forms. Residents outside Illinois should send the form to the
American Radio Relay League, 225 Main Street Newington, CT, 06111-1494
USA.

Cook County ARES Net

The Cook County ARES Net meets on the fourth Wednesday
of the month at 9:00 PM local time on the SARA repeater
(146.88 MHz R-600 PL107.2). All amateurs with 2-meter
privileges and an interest in emergency and public
service communications are welcome, without regard to
ARES membership, ARRL membership, or county of
residence. The net features a brief training session
each month designed to improve each participant's
competence in emergency communications. The net also
includes announcements regarding emergency and public
service communications. Suggested reading material for
each training session will be available here or via
e-mail.

Yaesu Note: Due to use of dynamic content web programming, we can't provide a single link to Yaesu's manuals. You may be able to find what you need by going to their site and searching for "manuals". Moral: Stamp out dynamic content.

Schaumburg ARC Emergency Communications and ARES Net

The Schaumburg Amateur Radio Club Emergency Communications and ARES
Net meets on the first Thursday of the month at 8:20 PM local time on
the SARC repeater (145.23 MHz R-600 PL107.2). If the repeater is
unavailable, the net is conducted in simplex on the repeater output
frequency. All amateurs with 2-meter privileges and an interest in
emergency and public service communications are welcome. The net
features a brief training session each month designed to improve each
participants competence in emergency communications. The net also
includes announcements regarding emergency and public service
communications. Suggested reading material for each training session
is available here or via e-mail.

Illinois and Chicago-Area Field Day Operations

June 27 and 28, 2014

ARRL®Field Day
is the largest Amateur Radio
emergency communications exercise, and is held
annually in late June.
(More info.)

Amateur radio operators (or "hams") numbering in
the tens of thousands, throughout the US and
Canada, will demonstrate their emergency
communications capabilities by trying to contact
as many other stations as possible over a 24 to 27
hour period, using emergency power sources and
temporary stations and antennas erected in the
field for this event. Many hams participate in
this event as part of a local amateur radio club
or emergency communications volunteer group. Some
clubs/groups operate at the Emergency Operations
Center (EOC) of a government or other served
agency, instead of building stations in the
field.

Field Day is not just for experienced hams.
Visiting a club/group Field Day operation is a
great way for new hams to learn more about
emergency communications and to meet other hams in
their neighborhood. And Field Day is an excellent
introduction to ham radio for the general public.

We encourage all amateurs to participate in
this fun and educational emergency communications
exercise. Most clubs/groups will be delighted to
welcome you as a visitor, even if you're not a
member of the group, and even if you're not a
licensed ham.

2015 Updates Pending

Maps and additional information on club/group Field Day operations
in Illinois in 2014 are available at the Illinois and Chicago-Area Field Day Directory:

And while you're planning to visit one of these
Field Day operations, please consider bringing
along a friend or neighbor who might enjoy
learning about amateur radio. Kids love Field Day
because there's always something going on!

ARRL Field Day 2016

June 25-26, 2014

ARRL Field Day is always the fourth
full weekend in June.

In 2016, ARRL Field Day will be held over the
weekend of June 25-26. The Illinois and Chicago-Area
Area Field Day Page for 2016 will be
posted around April 2016.

For Further Reading on Amateur Radio Emergency and Public Service Communications, Including ARES

Severe Weather Spotter Training by the National Weather Service Chicago (Romeoville) Forecast Office

The National Weather Service (NWS) offers severe weather spotter training classes at dozens of locations throughout the Chicago forecast office's county warning area (CWA) in Northeast Illinois and Northwest Indiana through mid-April.

The classes are about 1-1/2 to 2 hours and feature a multimedia presentation and talk by a NWS meteorologist. Most classes are open to the public, but some host agencies limit participants or require pre-registration. Contact the host agency well in advance to learn of any restrictions and to register. Most classes are free of charge; an exception is the DuPage Advanced Weather Spotter Seminar on 2012/03/10.

Tom Skilling presents an annual Tornado and Severe Weather Seminar at Fermilab. Although not spotter training, many people interested in tornadoes and other severe weather phonomena find the seminar informative and enjoyable. Two identical presentations are offered, one beginning at 1200, and the other beginning at 1800. The presentations run about four hours. The seminar is offered free of charge and no tickets are required. Because seating is first-come, first-served and space is limited, it is wise to arrive well in advance.

WGN TV has announced that the Noon presentation will be live-streamed on the wgn.com web site.

Illinois Statewide Simulated Emergency Test (SET)

Updates for 2015 Pending

11 October 2014 (Saturday)1330 — 1730 UTC0830 — 1230 Local

SET: An Opportunity to Test Emergency Communications Capabilities

ARES units throughout Illinois will participate in a statewide
Simulated Emergency Test (SET) on 11 October 2014.

The Simulated Emergency Test (SET) is an annual opportunity for
amateur radio operators and emergency communications groups to
exercise and test their emergency communications skills and equipment
while interacting with served agencies, NTS nets, and other ARES and
EmComm organizations.

The following description of the 2014 Illinois Statewide SET
exercise scenario was posted by Section Emergency Coordinator Brad
Pioveson W9FX on 16 September 2014:

2014 ILLINOIS ARES SIMULATED EMERGENCY TEST

DATE:

11 OCT 2014

1330 — 1730 UTC

0830 — 1230 Local

(Times listed are for Section nets—local nets can run as long as the ECs and members care to operate.)

EXERCISE NAME:

SNOWMAGEDDON

SCENARIO DETAILS:

A major winter storm has moved swiftly from the Rockies, across the plains, and drops an average of 36 in of wet, heavy snow across the entire state. This has happened on the evening before the SET begins. Temperatures before and during the storm averaged in the upper 20 degree Fahrenheit range, but, in the wake of the storm, frigid temperatures follow, dropping temps to near or below 0 degrees. Locations north of I-70 see temps in the -10 degree range. South of I-70, temps hover near 5 degrees. A second front is right behind the first one, and as the morning of the SET opens, heavy snow is falling across all of Illinois—on top of the already piled 3 ft of snow. Snow is falling at the rate of about 6 in per hour.

INFRASTRUCTURE:

The bitter cold temperatures are too low for ice/snow melting concoctions used by highway departments to have any effect. and, highway departments are struggling to get any roads opened to traffic. Major highways, are impassable and have been closed by the Illinois State Police. Motorists are stranded on the Interstate highways and toll ways. Secondary roads are likewise unusable and littered with wrecked and abandoned vehicles. Electrical utilities are slowly failing from the massive energy demand and from tree limbs falling across lines owing to the weight of snow on them. Telephone/Internet service, including cellular systems, are sporadic. With the approach of even more snow, and with it, freezing rain, the stage is set for a major natural disaster in Illinois.

DISCUSSION:

It's not often that weather events are unannounced, and, this storm is no different. Despite frequent warnings from the National Weather Service, most people are unprepared for an interruption in infrastructure and transportation that last longer than a few hours. This storm will disrupt normal lines of communications and transport for at least 48 hours. Rural areas may be affected for a considerably longer period. Hospitals, assisted living facilities, nursing homes all have populations that are vulnerable to these types of events, as they rely on a continuous, uninterrupted flow of supplies, including medicines, equipment, energy, food and water. First responders will be unable to do their jobs well or expediently as communications both from and to their command centers will be unavailable, and, their abilities to move people and equipment will be severely limited.

OBJECTIVES:

We Illinois AUXCOMM volunteers, and, that banner is used to describe both ARES and RACES units and members, have talked about ICS (Incident Command System) procedures and classes for some years now. Most of us have taken the four basic ICS courses—100, 200, 700 and 800. Some have added other, more advanced classes to those, and, a few of us have had the opportunity to complete the AUXCOMM class. It's time to put some of the training to work. The primary objective of this SET is for your group—ARES, RACES, MARS or other, to establish local communications between your members and/or your served agencies via your established local nets. Each of your participating members is asked to generate and transmit a message, addressed to the Illinois AUXCOMM Coordinator for this event (details on addressing to follow by separate message), indicating the sending station's location (town/village/city and county), and how long that individual can maintain operations at his or her current location without outside support. That would include such matters as fuel for generators, battery life at 90%-receive, 10%-transmit duty cycle, available food and water, and personal situation (heat, shelter, etc.). A message schematic/template will be distributed prior to the exercise. This message should be in ICS-213 format. Information on ICS-213's will follow in later messages. The message may be sent via voice communications or via digital-RF means, i.e., the Winlink network. If you have a packet RMS station available to you, use it. If not, use Winmor or Pactor. If those aren't available to you, find out who in your organization, or a nearby organization can act as your gateway to get the message onto the Winlink network. The only prohibition is that we won't use the Internet for message traffic. This one is all RF.

LOCAL ARES INVOLVEMENT:

Each community has it's own unique circumstances and potential needs, and, for that reason, each EC is free to decide how involved his or her group's participation in this exercise will be. EC's are encouraged to use some creativity in designing the local scenarios based on the general, Section SET scenario.

STATE RACES INVOLVEMENT:

Pending IEMA approval. Info will follow, as it becomes available.

MARS INVOLVEMENT:

All three branches of the Military Auxiliary Radio System will be invited to participate.

The following additional information announced by SEC Brad Pioveson W9FX on 02 October 2014:

OBJECTIVES:

NEW INFO:

The Statewide SC21 (StarCom21) drill will be held on Tuesday, 07 OCT. All County EMAs will be expected to participate in this drill. As the drill is actually run from NC9IL, the Illinois AUXCOMM station, the NCS for the SC21 drill, will be adding a challenge to the normal, "turn the radio on and check-in" routine that is expected with these events.

The NCS, N9LQF, will be asking all SC21 drill participants to:

Contact their AUXCOMM radio volunteers and generate an ICS-213 formatted message which they will give to their AUXCOMM volunteers to transmit. The message must be transmitted BY RADIO ONLY—no Internet!

This ICS-213 formatted message will be addressed to the State AUXCOMM coordinator, i.e., W9FX@winlink.org for amateur messages / NNN0LHN@winlink.org , for MARS addressing. Message content should include the following:

The name of the electrical power utility that provides electricity to their (county) EOC

The contact telephone number of the "emergency contact" for that utility, i.e., the number they would call if the AC power at their EOC was disrupted for any reason

The email info, i.e., address, for the point-of-contact at the EOC/EMA generating the message, so I can close the loop with them once I have received their message

FAQs:

What if your county EMA chooses not to "play," or, if you're a home-rule community providing your own EMA function? Well, the SC21 drill won't touch your agency, but that does not mean that you AUXCOMM/ARES folks cannot contact the EMA and request that such a message be generated.

What if your "served agency" is not an EMA at all, or, if you're unaffiliated with a gov't or non-gov't agency? Then, as an AUXCOMM/ARES group (or, volunteer), generate an ICS-213 message, per above, same info, only provide the email address of the point of contact for your group in place of the EMA POC's info.

Note that the SC21 drill is TUESDAY. AUXCOMM folks have until Saturday at 1630 to get that message sent!

MESSAGE TRANSMISSION:

Messages must be sent by RADIO ONLY *RF ONLY* and 3G/4G cellular and/or wi-fi hookups DO NOT QUALIFY.

Messages may be sent via voice nets (ISN or other), or, directly, by digital means, including Winlink 2000, by CW (ILN), or whatever other radio-only means is available to you to use.

STATEWIDE NET:

Yes, the Illinois ARES Net will be on the air from 0800 thru 1230, more or less, on 11 OCT, on 3.905 Mhz, primary, 7.230 MHz, secondary. The command and control net will be on those frequencies. Tactical nets will be generated, on an as needed basis, to handle message traffic. The principal reason for the Illinois ARES HF Net to be on the air that morning is to provide a meeting place for participating groups and individuals. If there is message traffic to be passed, it will be accomplished on other frequencies—assigned "on the fly" and as needed.

Again, the objective of this exercise is to gain experience working with the de facto standard message form in modern emergency management—the ICS-213. Local groups may take this exercise scenario and embellish it as they see fit, adding layers of complexity/problems/injects as they see fit, and as their minds' eyes can imagine.

QUESTIONS?

I am recuperating from major surgery, and, will be rattling around the house for the next few days/weeks. I can answer questions, if posed by email. I am not good at chasing down a ringing telephone, right now, however.

EmComm Round Table for All Interested Hams

Third Saturday of the Month--0900 AMHoffman Estates P.D.

Bob Langsfeld WB9TZC hosts an EmComm Round Table meeting for hams
interested in emergency and public service communications on
the firstthird Saturday of most
months.

The Em Comm Round Table is a public service and emergency
communications amateur radio operators interest group. The meeting is
open to amateur radio operators and members of clubs, ARES, and
RACES. Participants share experience and network with one another.
The format typically includes "hot wash" of past events, a posting of
upcoming events and coordinator contact information, a brief
presentation on a selected topic, followed by a round-table discussion
on the presentation topic and any other topics participants wish to
raise.

The meeting is held at the Hoffman Estates Police Department, 411 W
Higgins Rd., Hoffman Estates. The meeting begins at 9:45
AM9:00 AM. Participants gather in the lobby
of the Police Department and are guided to a meeting room.

Skywarn Recognition Day is a FUN amateur radio
operating event to celebrate the contributions that volunteer SKYWARN
radio operators make to the National Weather Service (NWS).

Amateurs visit National Weather Service offices throughout the U.S.
to set up ham radio stations and operate during the 24-hour period of
the event. The goal for these stations is to contact as many other
stations, including other NWS offices, as they can. Other amateurs
participate from home, club, mobile, or portable stations. They try
to contact as many participating NWS offices as possible.
Certificates are available to participants who contact a threshold
number of other stations.

Although Skywarn Recognition Day is intended principally as a fun
operating event, EmComm-focused amateurs can use this as a great
learning opportunity, because Skywarn Recognition Day is a great
emergency communications exercise. In some cases, operations at NWS
offices are like a winter Field Day, in which visiting hams set up
several additional stations and antennas to supplement the stations
permanently installed at the office. And maximizing the number of
participating stations contacted requires operating skills similar to
those needed in an emergency.

The National Weather Service is an important served agency for
amateurs throughout the region. Can your station communicate directly
with the Romeoville forecast office via simplex? If you now expect to
use one of NWS' selected liaison repeaters, and that repeater is out
of service, will you be able to use one of the other repeaters?
Skywarn Recognition Day will give you an opportunity to find out.

Skywarn Recognition Day is held on the first Saturday of
December--in 2015, that's December 5. The event runs from 0000 to
2400 UTC (i.e., the event begins at 1800 CST on Friday and runs
through 1800 CST Saturday).

Special Note

2015 Update Pending

WX9LOT at the National Weather Service Forecast Office
in Romeoville makes a special effort to contact hams in the
23 counties of the NWS Chicago County Warning Area (CWA) on the 2m and
70cm bands. Repeaters typically used include:

Repeater

Output Frequency

PL

Offset

Valparaiso, Indiana

147.105 Mhz

pl 131.8

+

FishFAR--Schaumburg

442.900

pl 114.8

+

FishFAR--Gilberts

442.925

pl 114.8

+

FishFAR--Joliet

442.925

pl 114.8

+

FishFAR--Chicago

442.975

pl 114.8

+

FishFAR--Gilberts

146.925

pl 100.0

—

Dupage Radio Club

442.550

pl 114.8

+

Kankakee, Illinois

146.94 Mhz

pl 107.2

+

Grundy County, Illinois

442.325 Mhz

pl 114.8

+

Ogle county, Illinois

147.165 Mhz

pl 146.2

+

Corrections from NB9R and AB9MZ applied.

Invitation to Visit Unified Command Post 15 at Melrose Park Events

August 29–31 at Taste of Melrose Park

September 05–07 at Melrose Park Hispano Fest

The Melrose Park Public Safety and Homeland Security (MPPS) department would like to showcase one of the Cook County Unified Command Post vehicles by encouraging any interested amateur radio operators to visit one of the following, public events, being held in Melrose Park:

Emergency Services is the heart of the department. This division supports all of the Village of Melrose Park Public Safety Divisions(FD/PD) thorough a variety of efforts, from traffic control, emergency medical response, Skywarn, working at village special events to search and rescue operations.

Contact Cook County ARES

For more information on how you can be a part of
ARES in Cook County, Illinois, contact: